Cody Hodgson is starting to remind me of a young Adam Oates not the fastest guy but great vision and passing skills. Vignault should have put Ballard on the wing instead of Alberts all he did was choke off both players effectivness as well as their ice time.

Mason Raymond had an outstanding season a couple years ago in which he finished a bit and learned to excel on the forecheck and defensively. Last year, the offense dried up considerably, but the defense improved. Remarkably -- given all the time off and the nature of the injury -- Raymond looks like he hasn't lost a step, hasn't lost his tenacity, and has improved his shot -- which I am going to conservatively write off as small sample size. The only downside is that he hasn't lost his propensity to circle low to high in the zone, lose control on his backhand, and force the team to regroup in neutral ice.

Speaking of shots, Hodgson has one as well. The relatively low shooting percentage is going to even out. And while it is maddening that he turns away from players in the defensive zone and has no clue how to gain position in the defensive zone, he is showing his offensive gifts. If this team is healthy, he is going to have 2 of Hansen, Raymond, Higgins, and Booth as linemates. All four wingers can help create a little more time and space for silent 3 and provide the team with 3 lines that can score. Teritiary scoring. Not including the defense. I like it.

Roberto Luongo let in 3 goals ranging from quenstionable to outright soft. But he was absolutely outstanding the rest of the game. After the Cole goal, he gave the team his best 40 minutes of the season. I think he is about to go on a run.

old calamari wrote:Cody Hodgson is starting to remind me of a young Adam Oates not the fastest guy but great vision and passing skills. Vignault should have put Ballard on the wing instead of Alberts all he did was choke off both players effectivness as well as their ice time.

AV said he didn't want to break up the Ballard-Rome pairing because he has really liked how they have played of late. Yes he gave a compliment to Ballard. That pairing was once again a plus on the night...Ballard is +7 in his last 9 games with no minus games. And his play is improving.

tantalum wrote:AV said he didn't want to break up the Ballard-Rome pairing because he has really liked how they have played of late. Yes he gave a compliment to Ballard. That pairing was once again a plus on the night...Ballard is +7 in his last 9 games with no minus games. And his play is improving.

(Grabner still on pace for less than 40 points..that was for S_C )

Ballard is playing some of his best hockey as a Canuck on the RIGHT side. Last year he was awful on the right side. Hmmmm

He is beginning to look more like the player I thought we acquired last year, and has been unlucky to have not been on the scoresheet more often of late IMO.

Hodgson has been the most pleasant surprise of the year so far. Has anybody else noticed him throwing the body around more as the season progresses?

Pull props to Luongo for turning his game around after the third goal. Statistically it was still a bad game, but it went from looking like "one of those nights" to a very satisfying win. Almost made getting wisdom teeth pulled out in the morning and having the whole day off work worthwhile.....owwwweeeeee

herb wrote:Pull props to Luongo for turning his game around after the third goal. Statistically it was still a bad game, but it went from looking like "one of those nights" to a very satisfying win. Almost made getting wisdom teeth pulled out in the morning and having the whole day off work worthwhile.....owwwweeeeee

Interesting that he did so given his reputation for meltdowns; I think a lot of Canucks fans feel like once Lou lets in a couple of softies he might as well come out because there is going to be another handful in pretty short order.

Hopefully - if necessary - he can turn things around inside a game like this in the playoffs.

After the third goal I thought if Luongo will ever be a real elite goalie and someone we can count on in the playoffs he needs to shut the door at the times when his team needs him to. Last night was one of those nights and to my big surprise he did it, I will give him full props for doing so. Even though it was only against Mtl and a regular season game he has to start somewhere.

H. Sedin in his first 4 seasons with the Canucks he ranged from 29 points to 42 points with a gradual improvement each season.

C. Hodgson first season has 15 points and tracking to be 43 points statistically who know where it will end.

R. KeslerYR1 – 28 games 5 pointsNext 3 seasons went from 23 points to 37 (taking into account games played in 06/07)

Not saying CH will be another Sedin/Kesler just pointing out that for a rookie he is doing well and other aspects of his game will improve in the next couple of years. I also understand the different leagues that we have now compared to when the Sedin’s joined the league.

dbr wrote:Interesting that he did so given his reputation for meltdowns; I think a lot of Canucks fans feel like once Lou lets in a couple of softies he might as well come out because there is going to be another handful in pretty short order.

Hopefully - if necessary - he can turn things around inside a game like this in the playoffs.

Exactly.

Goalies are allowed to let in bad goals every once in a while, just like d-men are allowed to get burned pinching, etc. The problem with Luongo (see Chicago, Boston) has been his penchant for letting a bad goal get to his head and before you know it there are a bunch of softies and it's a blowout situation where the team cannot come back and win. Last night he shut the door knowing another goal and it was likely game, set, match. With this team, all our goalies need to do nine nights out of ten is give the forwards and defense a chance, because they can score in bunches.

Reef - I am finding it extremely hard not to be really high on Hodgson. I know there are holes in his game, but he has all the right tools you cannot teach (vision, passing ability, shot, offensive awareness, etc.). He is poised to have a very good rookie season, and is improving noticeably almost every week.

Our top 9, if they ever get healthy together, looks really, really strong.

Last edited by herb on Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

UWSaint wrote:Mason Raymond had an outstanding season a couple years ago in which he finished a bit and learned to excel on the forecheck and defensively. Last year, the offense dried up considerably, but the defense improved. Remarkably -- given all the time off and the nature of the injury -- Raymond looks like he hasn't lost a step, hasn't lost his tenacity, and has improved his shot -- which I am going to conservatively write off as small sample size.

Raymond looks a bit more slender then he did last season.

I know there was talk of him trying to add weight the summer before last and that of course would not have been possible this year.

For Hockey players bigger isnt always better and I wonder if Raymond just feels more comfortable with out any extra bulk.

Something is going on because he really shouldnt look as good as he does given the circumstances.

Speaking of shots, Hodgson has one as well. The relatively low shooting percentage is going to even out. And while it is maddening that he turns away from players in the defensive zone and has no clue how to gain position in the defensive zone, he is showing his offensive gifts.

He has some obvious weakness in the defensive zone but he has some clear strengths in that part of the ice which balances them out.

In the big picture, Cody's lines this season have not given up many shots, chances, or goals relative to the rest of the team.

He doesn't win a lot of puck battles in his own zone, but he supports the defense very well in terms of being open for outlet passes, he moves the puck very well, and his defensive positioning is quite good.

He also rarely turns the puck over, doesn't take penalties, and keeps his shifts quite short.

The net /net, is a player who doesn't hurt the teams goals against "at all", and is a fairly major positive in terms of goals for.

Hodgsons offensive performance shouldn't be understated. He is churning out second line scoring numbers while getting 3rd line ice time, and he's doing it with out much offensive support from his line mates.

Hockeywife ... here is my annual reminder to you : Please go and get laid.

I noticed during the game last night that when down 3-0 the Canucks had massive poise. They didn't look defeated or jarred by the situation. Sure enough they win. A real good outcome that should help Luongo tremendously.

Potatoe1 wrote:Hodgsons offensive performance shouldn't be understated. He is churning out second line scoring numbers while getting 3rd line ice time, and he's doing it with out much offensive support from his line mates.

I wonder if Schnieders play as of late as an influence on him pulling his shit together. I mean before, if he shits the bed one night, there wouldn't really be a question whether he would get the next start. Or even the amount of goals of when he'd get the yank ( i'd say prior to Cory's tear, about 4-5 goals against). But now, you have to start thinking, 3 goals in the first... the third being pretty weak. How short is that leash really going to be?? I mean at what point does AV look down the bench (or in this case across the ice) and give that nod?

I know this is creating something out of nothing really, because he battled back and got the win. Still, it's something to consider in the next few months as this "controversy" spirals out of control....

Last season Raymond had a wrist or hand problem early in the season and never fully recovered from that. It showed by his lack of finish. It does seem that he has recovered and the long lay off has the side bonus of allowing his hand/wrist to fully heal as well. You have to wonder if he is playing on adrenaline and will there be an inevitable slow down once he comes back down to earth.

Re the Alberts experiment: whoever pointed out that it was a cap issue is bang on. No room for the extra body unless Booth is placed on LTIR. Not sure if that has been down yet. With Higgins being a game day decision the club could not afford to bring along an extra forward.

There were times last season when our 4th ling struggled and Ballard was in the dog house that I thought it might be worth a shot to put him on the 4th line. But right now he is playing very good sound defensive hockey so I'd rather go a forward short and have a steady D.

Hockey Widow wrote:There were times last season when our 4th ling struggled and Ballard was in the dog house that I thought it might be worth a shot to put him on the 4th line. But right now he is playing very good sound defensive hockey so I'd rather go a forward short and have a steady D.

I agree. It might be dangerous if anyone gets hurt, but I don't see a huge problem giving Weise (5:16 last night) and Sweatt (6:18) an extra 60 seconds apiece, and giving Hodgson (10:40) and Lapierre (11:37) an extra 120 seconds. That makes up for the 5:36 Alberts played... I would rather have Alberts back there taking some of Salo's (22:30) defensive zone minutes.

Being down early obviously played a factor, as AV was forced to use the Sedins (22 and 23 Mins) and Kesler (24:35) that much more.

It might just be that Raymond actually made some strides as a player last year but those things were covered up by the injuries he had.

Or it may be that he's on the third line and not facing the same quality of competition he aced last year as a part of the Kesler line. Either way it's nice to see and hopefully it is beyond an adrenaline rush.